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How often should a 7 week old need to feed?

My 7 week old daughter seems to want to be on my breast constantly. It was getting me down during the night when I had to get up every hour through the night so I started giving her a bottle of formula on an evening before putting her to bed. This works for the night as she now sleeps for about 4 hours before waking for the next feed, i then breast feed her and she sleeps for another few hours. The problem now is during the day. She just doesn't seem satisfied . I'm considering giving her more formula just to give me a break but i feel a bit guilty and selfish that i'm not giving her the best. My partner thinks she should have got into more of a routine by now .

She just cries if i don't give her my breast and sometimes seems to use it as a dummy. i have tried to substitute it with an actual dummy but she just spits it out. I know I'm supposed to feed on demand but is there a point where i should draw the line.I have also tried distracting her with toys and singing with her but nothing seems to work. Should I just keep feeding her and hope over the next few weeks it will settle down or is it possible to over feed her?

Comments for Post (6)

Answer to your question: as often as she needs to - that's how demand feeding works! At 7 weeks you are still in the early-ish stages of BFing and your supply is probably still getting established. Your LO is growing so fast that she can easily want to be fed every hour, or more. But it doesn't last honestly, many people find that by 12 weeks things have settled down and even BF babies might be in more of a routine by then.

A common mistake that many people (including me in the early days) make is to judge the success of Bfing by how 'settled' or how 'satisfied'or how 'good' ( i hate that term!) the baby seems to be. I don't believe that it works that way: you can be doing absolutely everything right in terms of BF and your baby will still cry and want to feed / comfort feed more.This is really really normal. The reason that babies seem more 'satisfied' with formula is that it basically swamps their wee digestive systems and they shut down to deal with it. Yet BM is nutritionally superior in every single way.

My advice would be to keep going as you are, and don't give her any more formula than you already are. Once you start giving formula thorugh the day it's a real threat to your BM supply. I know it's tough going, but this is such a short time in your LO and your life together, and you will be giving her the best start possible.

I can only agree with everything that chocolatefish has said! If you want to stick with bf, then feeding as often as lo wants will help establish your milk supply. You're probably over the worst of it already!

Hi I am still breastfeeding my dd who is 6mths. At 3mths she settled into her own pattern of feeding every three hours but before that she would be permanently attached to my boob, especially in the evenings.

Explain to your partner that a routine can be very detrimental to breastfeeding and it will happen in time. For now, you need is help and support...and cups to tea!

I know it is hard to believe now but my dd will only feed about 3-5 times a day and each feed lasts about 5mins...I REALLY miss the long newborn feeds ...enjoy her while shes little and you're getting all those lovely breastfeeding cuddles cos it won't last long.

Also, if you can manage it...don't bother with the formula cos it will only mean you will make less milk and it is so much more rewarding when you're ebf. Also, as she may take a greater volume of milk from a bottle it could stretch her stomach making her feel less satisfied when she has only breastmilk. And as above pp said, it makes them sleep longer as it is hard for their little tummies to digest.

Are you sure she is always hungry when she is crying? I have a seven week old baby too, and initially I was feeding really frequently and tending to assume that if I could not stop her crying she was hungry. I have subsequently discovered (thanks to the health visitor pointing it out) that often she cries because she is tired and she needs help to get to sleep. Since I have realised this I have got into a better routine, where she will feed every 2-3 hours, be awake and alert for a bit, then cry because she wants to go to sleep. I will then spend some time walking around with her, rocking her and singing until this happens. I know you have probably tried everything, as you say, but it is just something to consider, particularly as babies still need about 4-5 hours sleep during the day at this age, so she shouldn't be feeding constantly, she should be sleeping sometimes too!

As rosered09 has said it could be that LO actually needs to sleep during the daytime and this can often be mistaken for hunger.

I beleive i also made this mistake (my LO is 7 wks) a few weeks ago but this now appears to have stabilised as i have tried to stop thinking about set routines as much and try to judge what i think she needs?

Normally this is to feed then have some play time then a nap normally follows as she is tired. Difficult to judge as it can often seem such a short time in between feeds.

Just a suggestion but try and write down how much sleep LO has and if it isn't enough try and encourage more x

I totally agree my son is 7 weeks tomorrow & I've just started to work out when his tired & when his hungry! His going every 3ish hours with at least an hours nap b4 his feed. It's fight & he screams then suddenly Zonks out! He no longer falls asleep after his feeds so we can play. I feel better about going out now as I have longer b4 he needs my milk. I guess this is him getting in a routine. B4 I was feeding every Hour & totally exhausted! I took Sully for cranial therapy a few weeks back & I believe that really settled him. He will lay & play now & seems so happy :) good luck xx

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